Architectural Symbols and Layouts to add to your Blueprint Plans

These are some of the standard architectural symbols used for blueprints.

Most house plans will have one of each at least and sometimes more depending on the size and complexity of the design.

Window and door opening should be added to allow for good circulation and the natural flow of light into the buildings interior spaces.

Windows should be located specifically on the south facing elevation of the house to allow for natural heat gains which will improve the buldings energy efficiency.

Add architectural symbols to all areas of the plan to give your drawing an accurate sense of reality. Try out component layouts for new closet toilets bathrooms and en suite for one or two bedrooms try and add as many components to build up the layers.

A good tip when planning bathrooms and toilets is to consider the type of components you like and see working in your future house. This will include the size and shape of the bath, shower cubicles, and storage space need to be added to the plans.

Why Architectural Symbols?

When it comes to blueprints and building plans, it is necessary that drawings are used in these construction plans to communicate information quickly and efficiently.

In the construction industry, drawings serve as the language of blueprints.

Like in any language, there is an alphabet, for example English is composed of twenty six letters.

It is a little different for construction, as the language for construction is made up of an ‘alphabet of lines’.

When it comes to the weight and thickness of these lines, there is varies and this is done purposely to showcase relative importance.

For example, sometimes the basic outline of a building is shown in a heavier line than a window or door.

This distinct difference in line weight helps you to distinguish any objects shape from its precise details in the blueprint.

Object Lines in Architectural Symbols

These object lines are used to show you the shape of an object in the plans.

All of the visible edges of the shape of an object are represented by thee object lines.

Drawings and construction plans often include many solid lines that are not the same as object lines.

When it comes to dashed lines in a construction plan, there can be more than one purpose.

One of these types of dashed lines, a hidden line, is used as a way to show the edges of an object that wouldn’t be visibly shown in the plans normally.

How are hidden lines drawn? Hidden lines are draw in a series of evenly drawn short dash marks.

However, this isn’t done for all objects that would be hidden in the plans.

If there were construction drawings with all of the hidden lines to display concealed edges, then the construction plan would become extremely cluttered and difficult for workers to read.

This means that when it comes to hidden object lines, they will only display important features which are shown with hidden lines in the plans.

Another kind of dashed line is normally used to show overhead construction that is important to the project. These dashed lines are actually called phantom lines.

These are different from hidden object lines, as they do not show objects that are hidden from view, but are meant to show objects that simply are not in the view.

How do you effectively use these lines in your plans? For example, if you’re looking to show exposed beams in a living room ceiling plan, then the best way to do this may be to show them in the floor plans with phantom lines.

You can also use these phantom lines to show alternate dashes of different lengths, depending on their purpose in the blue print.

Extension and Dimension Lines in Architectural Symbols

The extension lines in a construction layout plan are thin and solid lines that can project from an object in the blueprint in order to the limits and extent of a dimension easily.

When it comes to extension lines, they don’t quite touch the object that they’re indicating, more so the positions of these objects.

In order to avoid confusion with these lines, the dashed lines can be used in different weights to show the difference on the blueprint plans.

In the case of dimension lines, these are solid lines that are of the same weight as the extension lines.

When a dimension line is drawn, it is drawn from one extension line to the next, connecting them together.

The dimension, which is the distance between any extension lines, is lettered above the dimension line to distinguish it.

For construction drawings, dimensions are expressed in both feet and inches. When it comes to the ends of dimension lines, they are drawn in one of three ways to distinguish them.